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1N0. 752,446. PATENTED FEB, 16, 1904.. v. B. PRA'N-GART.

' MEASURING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED ov; a, 1903 N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented February 16, 1904;

PATENT OFFICE.

MEASURING DEVICE.

- srEcIE'rcArIoN formingpart of Letters Patent No. 752,446, dated February-16, 1904.

Application filed November 8, 1903. Serial No. 179,733 (No model.)

To all whom' it may concern:

Be it known that I, VALENTINE B. FBANGART, a citizen of the United States, residing in BoundbroolnNew Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Measuring Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in certain improvements in measuring devices particularly designed for determining lengths of fabrics, such as cloth, dress-goods, ribbons, &c.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of the general character above noted which is designed to be permanently supported on a counter and by which it shall be possible to quickly and accurately measure 01f any desired lengths of material.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide a measuring device which is designed to be supported on a counter and which is so made that when not in use its horizontally-extended portions may be moved into an approximately vertical position, so as to occupy but relatively little space.

These objects I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a perspective view illustrating my improved measuring-device in a position ready for use and indicating in dotted lines the position of its hinged arms when moved upwardly, so as to be out of the way.

In the above drawing; A is a standard held in any desired way on or supported from a store-counter or similar structure, and there is upon the upper end of said standard a horizontally placed cross-piece a, it being noted that a portion of said standard is preferably, although not necessarily, of a circular section.

The cross-piece a is rigidly fixed to the standard and has arms a hinged to its ends, which in the present instance are made rectangular in section and when in a horizontal position form with the said cross-piece a single and horizontally-hung bar. The hinges a, I preferably form as part of or connected to metal end sections a fitted on the adjacent end portions of the cross-piece wand the arms At the extreme end of each arm, at the center of the cross-piece a and at points midway between these first-mentioned points, are fastened metallic plates a, which arepreferably made of such length as to extend or project beyond the sides of the pieces upon which to each other that the distances between the extreme pins is equal to some common unit of of lengthas, for example, a yard-while the intervening pins are placed at points between said extreme pins equal tothe ordinary fractions of said unit, in the present instance being at the one-fourth, one-half, and threefourths yard points.

Ribs or bars B are pinned to the under side of the arms M, as shown, and both of said ribs are also pinned to a cylindrical ferrule or runner 6, slidably mounted upon the cylindrical portion of the standard A. When in a position with its arms extended and ready for use, said runner rests upon a shoulder formed by the end of a portion of the standard A of larger diameter than that of the remainder,

so that it will be understood .thatthe ribs B act as struts to retain the arms 1, in their horizontal position without permitting undue strain to be brought upon the hinges a. An

L-shaped groove or recess 6' is formed in the upper portion of the runner 6, and this is designed to engage a pin Z2 projecting from the cylindrical portion of the standard A.

In using my improved measuring device one end of the piece of fabric or other material to vbe measured is engaged by the pin a at one end of the arms a and said fabric, stretched to any desired extent, is extended parallel to the measuring-bar formed of the arms a and the cross-piece a, and is brought into engagement with the pin at the extreme end of the other arm a If a-length of more than one yard of material is desired, this latter is then folded back upon'itself and brought into engagement with the first pin at the opposite end of the measuring-bar, and so on until the desired length is measured 01f, when such length is marked or the fabric cut while being held upon the pins.

Owing tothe fact that the pins overhang the sides of the measuring-bar, the main portion of the fabric measured is permitted to hang down freely out of the way, and any fractions of the main length or distance between the extreme pins are measured by bringing the fabric into engagement with the proper intermediate ones of the pins a Whenit is not desired to usethe measure ing-bar, the runner b is moved upwardly, so that its L-shaped groove 6 is brought into engagement with the pin 6 whena slight turn of said runner causes it to be held by the pin with the arms a in an upwardly-extended position. L(Indicated by thedines in' the figurez fi I claim as my invention 5 1. A measuring device consisting of a standard, a cross bar thereon and pins ,projecting fromsaid cross-bar at definite distances from oneanother, s1 bstan'tially as described.

A easu in e e inge a tan a 'efee he he n an @3 1 Ie m i d esa e sS-b a prei e ens om said parts carried it by a the standard, said projection slbeingat.definite distances from one another, substantially, as described.

'3. A measuring device cqnsi stingof astandera, res he t tee a arm e t h h n sa d ewes-ba end mean .fe engaging fabric on said parts carried by .the

standard, saidineans being .at definite. distances from one another, substantially asdescribed.

' 4. Ameasuringdevice consisting of astande arm m vab h r ie b 'the' sta a means for holding said arms in a straightline and a series f 'lrr ie tien om s a m placed at definite distances fr0m, each,0tl1er, substantially I as described.

' The combinationof,astandard, arms carried therebyl'and movable in a vertical plane orplanes', said arms having meansfor indicating lengths of material to be measured, means for holding ,thea rms in a substantially straight line and" other means for retaining said arms in a position out of the straight line, substantially as described.

6. The combination in a measuring device of a standard, a cross-piece thereon, an arm hinged to each endof said cross-piece, a runner movable on the standard and a rib conprojections ,at definite distances from each other, said measuring barbeing in a plurality of sections movably connected together, sub- ,stantiallyas described.

8. 'The combination of a standard, a measuring bar or bars carried thereon, and projectionsfromsaid-bar -or bars overhanging a side of tlre..sangle,;-substantially as described.

9. The combination in a measuring device of a standard, .a bar or bars g novably carried th 'r end-ha in m an for mea u l n hsq materiehka unneren the-stand ,a rod or rods extending-from the ,runner to t e re ea me a msxwit m ans fo retherunn ha e eva d posi ion on th a d; sube ent a l e d r T e em ihatien mameasu i gdev o e ta 1a d, a .m va yiearried' hereon having ea fo m a ur ng lengths v,Qf .mariehe r nemnthe stand r ta rod x n s rem h ,ru ne te t mcivah zerm, wi me ns o .l mit ig th i ot onQof the r n upon the standard inone directionand means retainingit ina fixed p ositionidistant from said limiting s, subs antia y as d s ribedv T emb atie inameasur ngdevice, o a standa d, a cross ber thereon, .e hingedto said crossbar, arunner having in it a $1 e l ev hl .Qhthes andard, sconn n th rl ne -e d th h heedarm an a p e tio on th s andard for en a n the slot in the runner, with means .on the crossr a d 9 sa d arm fo te m nin the length of material .to be measured substani y as d scri d t tim ny heree ha e i ed-m name RQ T- T- BRAM TON, THos. L. WAn rEns. 

